TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers Resources

Twitter is more than just a way to share meaningless tweets about your breakfast cereal or the traffic on the way to school. Who has time for that?

For teachers, Twitter can be a powerful tool for professional development via quick sharing with peers and colleagues whom you may or may not know face to face. Imagine running across other teachers who teach the same things you do and exchanging ideas quickly, just when you need them. Imagine putting out a plea for help and finding others willing to suggest a solution. Imagine sharing the cool finds you have discovered on TeachersFirst or a great way to make dictionary skills engaging in your classroom. We all know the best tidbits are from other teachers, and Twitter gives you a way to create a network to constantly learn.

Twitter can also be an effective way to communicate from your class to other classrooms around the globe. If Twitter is accessible inside your school's filtering, your class Twitter account can be an avenue to interact with classrooms across town or across the world. Share tweets about today's news, environmental data, hot topic opinions, and more using hashtags, mentions, or messages. *A tip from Texas teacher Allison: If you work with English language learners, you will want to avoid some common tweet-shortening abbreviations, such as using gr8 to mean great. Non-native speakers do not easily grasp these abbreviations.*

You do not have to know everything about Twitter to get started. Start out with this video for an overview of Twitter. Set up a Twitter account, and follow @teachersfirst to find other TeachersFirst enthusiasts. You can even follow Geo and Meri of Globetracker's Mission to become familiar with how Twitter works. You can access Twitter on their own web site or use one of the many free Twitter sharing tools available for free download. There are many Twitter tools for mobile devices, also free. But you don't need to worry about any of these to start.

Hashtags (those funny looking things with a #pound sign at the start) are a way of indicating that a tweet pertains to a certain topic or a certain interest group/event. The term hashtag refers to the funny # mark. To see what a hashtag does, try searching for one of these education-specific hashtags on Twitter (or watch them flying by in the little "widget" below. Try to figure out what each specialty is: #edchat, #ntchat, #ptchat, #midleved, #gtchat, #edtech, #artsed, #musedchat, #mathchat, #engchat, #EduIT. This is a good way to find people with common interests so you can FOLLOW them. Send a tweet including your favorite hashtag, telling people you are new to Twitter. Teachers who have searches set up for that hashtag will see your message, and you will receive a warm welcome!

For an easy way to get started, try Across the World Once a Week, a simple way to learn about the details of daily life in other cultures. The #xw1w hashtag pulls the weekly question and responses together in a quick Twitter search. Learn more about it here.

This collection of resources will give you some ideas and places to find other educators using Twitter and some of the various other tools that maximize Twitter's power for specific sharing, such as photos. We even have some reviews of Twitter-alternatives for those who prefer to stay in an education-only network. We have listed our top 30 Editor's Choice. View additional Twitter Resources here

Schedule your tweets to send at any time with Twuffer. This Twitter management tool allows you to write tweets then schedule them to go out at a later date. Just create an account and click to schedule a tweet. Include any links or images as desired and select a date and time. Once you select "schedule," your tweet will be posted at your desired time. If you make a mistake, delete any scheduled tweets anytime before they post. The free version of Twuffer allows up to 50 scheduled tweets per month.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Twuffer is perfect for all busy teachers trying to manage classroom duties and social media. Prepare and schedule tweets with reminders for project due dates, homework assignments, and more at your convenience. If you have reoccurring events, set up tweets in advance for these reminders. Timing is everything! Schedule tweets to be sent at several times throughout the day to make sure all users see your posts. Share with students who use Twitter with class assignments.

Focus on the Twitter chats you want to follow easily and in real-time with tchat. Sign up for tchat through your Twitter account. Input the hashtag you wish to follow and all other tweets will be filtered out. tchat opens in a new tab; that means you can still see other Tweets on your Twitter account tab at the same time you are following a chat. Reply right from tchat without leaving the page; send and continue reading the conversation. The menu bar at the top allows pause and play, it stops refreshing, allowing you to find what you are looking for and to reply or retweet the information without losing it, and then resumes when you click play. You can also block retweets. Either sign in to stop the pop-up when you want to respond, or use tchat without signing in to have the pop-up and see all of the chat on the side. Each reply will automatically include the hashtag.

In the Classroom

Sometimes it's hard to stay focused on a group Twitter chat. Take advantage of this tool to avoid distractions and communicate only with the members of the chat session. It's a relief to use this tool and be able to take your time commenting back and forth and not have to hunt through countless other Tweets to find your group and that one comment where you want to reply. tchat is the perfect tool to use with Twitter in the classroom so students will stay focused on your topic. If your class is following a scientist, engineer, politician, or any other professional, invite them to a chat to converse with your students and have the students stay focused. If you are taking an online class and one of the requirements is to participate in a Twitter chat, this tool is perfect to help you meet your goal.

Use tchat on laptops during a video or student presentations. Pose questions for all to answer/discuss using an assigned hashtag. Ask students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. Keep every student engaged and THINKING as an active listener. The first time you use tchat, you will want to establish some etiquette and accountability rules, such as respectful language and constructive criticism. Assign students to watch a news program or political show and have a chat during the broadcast. Revisit the chat on a projector in class the next day or post the chat transcript to a class blog or wiki and have students respond further in blog posts or on the wiki discussion tab. The advantage of backchannel chat is that every student has a voice, no matter how shy.

Use tchat to collaborate with other classrooms or teachers at a distance. Use a whole class Twitter account to contribute to a regular chat. Professionally, teachers can join subject or grade level specific Tweet chats that happen in real time. See the Twitter Chat Schedule, reviewed here or Cybraryman's Educational chat and hashtag listings here to find real-time groups you can join using tchat.

Hash is a Twitter feed aggregator showing Twitter's trending news in a beautiful display. Click on any picture's title, or hashtag under it to open up information about any image. View a short Wikipedia description of the item, then scroll through Tweets containing the hashtag. Choose the "Share Story" link to share via social media, email, or URL.

In the Classroom

Display Hash on your interactive whiteboard to find the latest information on current events. Have students explore a story then create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Easel.ly, reviewed here. Challenge students to use a tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. Zeemaps allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (on a map) where the story takes place. Students could add items throughout the month or any length of time to follow major events around the world. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Don't miss information from your favorite tweeps when you sign up with Daily 140. Sign in and add the Twitter handle of three people you want to track. Each day receive an email with a list of all new people they have followed and tweets they have favorited.

In the Classroom

Sometimes it is hard to get started with Twitter. Take advantage of the daily emails to find people of interest to follow or stay current on the latest education conversations. Use Daily 140 to stay up to date with other educators, politicians, The White House, and more. To get started following other educators see A List of Twitter Educators by Subject Area, reviewed here. If your class is following a scientist, engineer, politician, or any other professional, share the daily emails with students. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Track trending topics and tweets in any country you specify with Trends24. Select a country and view the breakdown of the trending tweets by minutes, hours, or days. Choose between the Timeline breakdown or click on Cloud. Tweet trends show as a word cloud, with the most popular topics showing in a larger font. Click any hashtag name to view the tweets showing for that trend. Are you new to Twitter and hashtags? Find information to help you at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use this tool to look at the topics that are trends in the various countries. Compare and contrast the top trends and how they differ from other countries that are neighbors or are far away. This tool is helpful in understanding political or cultural issues that extend worldwide or affect more than one region. Use the trending topics to understand the point of view of various countries. Look at news reports or causes for the change in the trend. Twitter trends could be useful in any subject area but especially useful for current events, civics, health, and economics.

Create a real-time chat room based on a twitter hashtag. Invite users to TwChat to participate in an online presentation without additional programs. Assign others to assist you with moderation. View a list of the Latest Chats and Upcoming Chats. Click "Create own room" to begin. Sign in with Twitter to participate, and then create your first room. Enter the time and schedule for the chat. Tweets appear in the room from all participants. Your tweets appear in the mentor column. Use this tool to follow new Twitter users or block participants.

In the Classroom

Do you use Twitter in the classroom? Use TwChat to create a chat room using a hashtag as invitation. See all tweets related to the hashtag in one place. Consider using a Twitter chat as a collaborative activity to find and share resources about a topic, translate material into/from another language, or understand the meaning behind literary works. Not interested in starting your own chat? Explore the site to discover Twitter chats to match your interests and needs. Find chats that are related to your expertise to learn about issues in the field or to bring a new perspective of that subject area to share with your classes. Find new people with similar interest to follow and build your PLN. Need more information about Twitter? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Enjoy checking your Twitter feed without wasting time by flipping browser tabs. Twittalert is like an SMS or IM window that will pop up on your PC screen and stay there about 11 seconds. Quickly scan the Tweet and get on with your work. The app can be easily deleted by exiting the program and deleting the unzipped download folder. When you want to use it again, just download it once more. At the time of this review, the app is only available for Windows.

In the Classroom

On Twitter follow hashtags for current events. View the information in real-time by projecting Twittalert on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Construct a question about events occurring elsewhere in the world to read student perspectives. Use a class Twitter account to set up chats with classes in other schools using this tool. Create a focused chat session based upon a particular question, such as the constitutionality of a law or the environmental impact of fracking project answers as they come in using Twittalert. Use Titttalert to interact and follow other classrooms and projects anywhere in the world in real-time. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Learn what you need to do and know to start using Twitter. Sign up to get a Twitter mentor or BE a mentor! Find out what to do before creating a Twitter account, get advice about whom to follow, explore programs to use to help you manage your Twitter account, and read how to keep track of everything. Learn about all the terms needed to be successful using Twitter as a teacher. This site is clean, simple, and very helpful!

In the Classroom

After creating an account, look at the page for what else you can start doing. Find other educators to follow on the Before You Begin page, and also look at participating in a Twitter Chat. Find a list of chats to join, and the day and time they meet at Twitter - Education Chats.As a teaching tool, Twitter is amazing! If your school permits access, have a class account for your class to follow people who work in fields and topics you study. Even primary grades can connect with other classes or "follow" many learning experiences via Twitter. Learn much more about teaching ideas and tools for Twitter in the many resources listed on TeachersFirst Twitter for Teachers page.

Looking for an easy way to follow hashtags or conversations on Twitter? Use this tool for more useful hashtags that pull tweets, videos, images, and more in a convenient place in real time. Hashtags are not just for fun, but also for finding and curating content from professional learning networks (PLN's). Use this tool to follow and participate in a chat easily and efficiently with no other tweets clogging up the stream. Enter the hashtag to view the active (or already completed) chat. Choose the speed of the chat flow. Use the Pause feature to stop the chat temporarily while checking a specific tweet or replying. View the hashtags with or without signing into Twitter. Note: New to Twitter and hashtags and unsure how to use it in the classroom? Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at the TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page. Be sure to check with your district's policies before using Twitter and Twubs with students.

In the Classroom

Create a hashtag for use by students when quoting and reacting to comments from presenters. Follow the hashtag for various events occurring elsewhere in the world to obtain perspectives from people of different nationalities. Use a segment of a prior chat (screenshot an image of the Twubs) to share with students. Use to identify different perspectives from those around the world. Find shared commonalities among people and differences that allow students to understand world happenings using a different lens. Follow Tweets from scientists (such as #MarsRover) or for content (#STEM). Use results from a Twitter chat to create essays, stories, or artwork depicting content from the chat. Find chats for all kinds of teacher interests to build not only your PLN, but your knowledge base in the document Twitter Chat Schedule, reviewed here.

Are you looking for other educators to follow on Twitter? Check out this lengthy list of educator Twitter handles arranged by subject. The easiest way to view the full document is to click the link located under the heading "A Twitter Win." This link leads to a Google document with headings for all content areas as well as Ed Tech, Counselors, Administrators, and more. Use the scroll bar at the bottom of the document to view all categories. Add your own Twitter handle in the appropriate category for inclusion on this document.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Explore the site to discover and follow educators who match your interests and needs. Read the Tweets about what is happening in other classrooms to gain some fresh, new ideas. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? If you are the only person in your building who teaches a particular subject, such as gifted or learning support, this list can help you find like minds to share ideas or to set up collaborations between your students. Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Create a personalized newspaper from your Twitter account or for any topic of interest. Connect this site easily with your Twitter account and generate a newspaper in minutes. View the newspapers of your Twitter friends or popular newspapers from other Twitter users. New to Twitter? Learn more from TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

In the Classroom

Use Tweeted Times to showcase your own Professional Development over time. Create and share a newspaper from a class or teacher Twitter account as a summary of content learned. Create a newspaper to use for real world learning in any subject (see Thematic newspapers). Share a newspaper of your class tweets with parents (and school administration) to show what students have learned and to highlight the value of Twitter in the classroom. Students can create a newspaper using their own Twitter account to document their learning and conversations. Be sure to use TeachersFirst's review of Twitter for great classroom ideas.

When is the best time to tweet? Find out with this free Twitter analysis tool. Tweriod analyzes your tweets and those of up to 1000 of your followers to provide suggestions on when your tweets have the highest probability of maximum exposure. Authorize Tweriod to access your Twitter account. Provide your email to receive your report. Within one to two hours, you will receive your results through a Direct Message to your Twitter account and email. Results include general stats, graphs, and three blocks of identified time for your best use of Twitter. Note: our review team report arrived within five minutes of our request.

In the Classroom

Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page. Use Tweriod to enhance your use of Twitter, finding specific times to reach most followers to make your Twitter use most productive. Share the analysis of your class Twitter account with students, and ask them to explore the data provided and analyze the findings.

Manage all of your social networks (Twitter, Linkedin, Google+ Pages, Facebook, and more) from one place: HootSuite. This is especially helpful for professional development or for organizing class learning experiences via Twitter. Learn more about Twitter in this review and TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page. Use Hootsuite to easily and quickly receive updates from followers, direct messages, Facebook updates, and follow hashtag conversations all in one convenient interface. Use this application to follow the multitude of educational chats on Twitter using hashtags. Need help using Hootsuite? Click "Resources" on the site to find help with various issues, as well as video tutorials. Hootsuite is available as an add-in for many browsers as well as an app for mobile devices.

In the Classroom

Set up Hootsuite by providing information such as your Twitter and Facebook name. Create columns for the various conversations such as "All Friends," "Facebook status updates," "Direct Messages," and more. Create a new Column to follow all the tweets of a particular person or a specific hashtag. Simply enter the username or the hashtag to instantly follow all conversations. Have more than one Twitter account? No problem. Follow all conversations by adding up to five accounts. Click on the picture of each follower for simple commands such as "Reply," "Retweet," "Direct Message," or "Other actions" to manage the user or the Tweet given. Easily follow or unfollow others. Create a column for each hashtag for the best way to keep track of chats on education topics.

Check that Twitter is accessible at school. Twitter is safest used as a whole class activity. If using Twitter with students, be sure you are following the students in order to monitor their use. Set up searches for curriculum-related topics, such as climate change or earthquakes. Use this tool to manage some of the best professional development around. Learn from other like educators, and challenge thinking and learning to greatly impact the lives of your students. Create connections that help you grow as an individual and an educator. Find more ideas in TeachersFirst's Twitter review.

If you teach gifted students, use Hootsuite on classroom computers for them to set up specific searches related to the topics your class is studying. Challenge them to act as your class Twitter curators, checking out related articles and links that will bring more real-world examples to the rest of the class or raise related debates that the gifted student can investigate. Find professionals in the field for your gifted students to ask questions about their science experiments and interests. Be sure to discuss safety and responsible online behavior if you permit students to send tweets on their own. Of course you will be able to "see" what they have sent if they use a class account.

BookRX finds and recommends books for you to read based on your Twitter feed. Allow the site access to your Twitter account and enter your handle. In a few seconds, a suggested book list appears based on information found in your Twitter feed! The site finds books based on hashtags used and other users you follow. Book recommendations appear in several categories such as food, business, or science and technology.

In the Classroom

Use BookRX as a fun way to find book recommendations you may not otherwise know about. In lower grades, this is likely to be a teacher-only tool. Share with older students who actively use Twitter to help them find new reading material. Use with your classroom Twitter account to find books related to curriculum topics your class has been tweeting about or experts you have been following. Teachers at ANY level who have established a Twitter presence can use it to find professional reading materials. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

Have fun creating sentences or short messages (like tweets) using drag and drop words at Twitter Magnets! Twitter Magnets calls them poems, though the length limit is a real challenge for poets! Choose from the words offered. Drag and drop the magnets into the message area at the bottom -- up to 120 characters. The tool keeps a character count for you. Need different words? Click the swap words link for new choices. Click submit to view your message/poem and decide whether to submit to Twitter Magnet's Twitter feed or not. You can also link to send from your own Twitter account. Note that clicking to see the Twitter Magnets feed will show you "messages" and poems created by the general public. Steer clear or preview to be sure these are appropriate in your setting.

In the Classroom

Create a message or "poem" of the day as a class to send from your class Twitter account. Use as a center activity or have student groups create their own messages about what you have learned today in any subject area class. Have ELL students create simple messages to reinforce language skills. If you don't have a Twitter account, just have students create offline messages. Take a quick screen shot, then write, illustrate, and share on your classroom bulletin board! Generate creative messages as a class to use as writing prompts. Have students tell the story (or nonfiction news account) about what caused the message. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page. You can also use this site as a tool to teach about digital citizenship and the etiquette of tweets.

View the most popular hashtags of the week on Twitter. When you first arrive at the site, click the small ? to access the tips for using this interesting tool. The text size indicates the popularity of the tag. Line colors identify clusters of related tags while the thickness shows the number of times the tags were used at the same time. Zoom in to see the tags used. Click on the info icon ("i") to view stats about the tag. View the actual top Tweets, the tags, and users of the Tweets. Use the tools along the top to show trends by hour. Search specific tags using the search bar. New to Twitter? Learn more from TeachersFirst Twitter for Teachers page.

In the Classroom

Use this tool to show how trending topics and current events are interrelated and to brainstorm inferences about their connections, especially in terms of current events and "hot topics" in the news. Of course, the Hive Mindmap content will include pop culture and anything being discussed on Twitter, so you may encounter topics that are not curriculum related in any way. Just click to another area. Trace the tweets of trending topics and find viewpoints from a variety of people in order to understand complex issues. Use this tool in discussions of world events, politics, science discoveries, communications, information literacy, media literacy, and more. This could also serve as a prompt for students to find a topic they wish to research in depth, such as the latest Nobel announcements for science class or up to date information about a country in turmoil for a world cultures class.

Find creative ideas for using Twitter to study and in class using OutWit.Me. View directions for many games to play with friends on Twitter. The games on this site were created by Twitter users. Suggested games include TweetQuiz, Word Connections, Crack the Code, and others.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use OutWit.Me to review information before tests or exams. Invite students to become experts at a certain game and to explain it to the class. Use the ideas on the site to create your own Twitter handle and create directions for your own class game. Better yet, challenge cooperative learning groups to create their own games. Create a TweetQuiz for important characters or events in history, play Crack the Code as an anticipation guide for a new unit, or play TweetWords providing clues to vocabulary words. Looking for more ways to use Twitter in the classroom? Read more about Twitter at TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

TweetChat is a simple and easy tool for isolating and following specific Twitter hashtags in real time. Sign in to a chat room using the hashtag and your Twitter login information. All you will see on your screen are the tweets using your tweetchat's chosen hashtag. Reply right from tweetchat without leaving the page; send and continue reading the conversation. Each reply will automatically include the hashtag. Tweetchat has a great feature called smart pausing. When you scroll down, it stops refreshing, allowing you to find what you are looking for and reply or retweet the information without losing it. New to Twitter? Read more about Twitter from TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

If your school permits student Twitter accounts, use TweetChat on laptops during a video or student presentations. Pose questions for all to answer/discuss using an assigned hashtag. Ask students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. Keep every student engaged and THINKING as an active listener. The first time you use TweetChat, you will want to establish some etiquette and accountability rules, such as respectful language and constructive criticism. Assign students to watch a news program or political show and have a chat during the broadcast. Revisit the chat on a projector in class the next day or post the chat transcript to a class blog or wiki and have students respond further in blog posts or on the wiki discussion tab. The advantage of backchannel chat is that every student has a voice, no matter how shy.

Use Tweetchat to collaborate with other classrooms or teachers at a distance. Use a whole class Twitter account to contribute to a regular chat. Professionally, teachers can join subject or grade level specific Tweetchats that happen in real time. See the Twitter Chat Schedule, reviewed here or Educational hashtags listings here to find real time groups you can join using Tweetchat.

This Google site is a chat schedule for Twitter educational hashtags. Take a look at who is using Twitter and why. You'll see that Twitter isn't just idle "chat." This is just the educational chats. You can find diverse chats about everything from leadership, to minimalists, running enthusiasts, to 4th grade teachers, and more. You'll probably find something that piques your interest! Some of the chats occur live, but many are ongoing. Not free at a chat time? You can always read the tweets later.

In the Classroom

Explore the site to discover and follow educational and professional chats that match your interests and needs. Read the tweets about what is happening in other classrooms to gain some new/fresh ideas. Students in upper grades interested in a particular career or trying to find a mentor in an area of interest could use this. You may want to preview and pick out certain hashtags for your student(s). Want to know more about Twitter? See TeachersFirst's Twitter for Teachers page.

All My Tweets is an easy way to see the tweets of a certain user. The result of the search is a list of tweets through time. It loads a maximum of 3,200 tweets. Try entering teachersfirst in the search bar to see an example. Note: adults should preview results before using this tool with students, since unintended results may include inappropriate content.

In the Classroom

Use on an Interactive whiteboard or projector to introduce a class topic or follow current events. This site could be used for students to submit an assignment of their own tweets they did over a period of time. Or use this site during a presentation on how Twitter works, showing the information contained in a succession of tweets. Have students submit a record of tweets that show their learning over time. Follow a Twitter user who often shares resource links for a diary of resources that have been shared. Trace the tweets from the White House, any high profile political figure, or author over a period of time. Follow discussions about current events or new events in science or medicine. See this list of tweeting authors for some possibilities.